Sunday, September 25, 2011

Continuing with the theme of the book “Go-Giver” let's talk about which comes first, heat or fuel. As in the commandment above where the homeless woman is holding an old thermostat in her hand on a cool winter's morn, shaking under the cover of nothing more than several refrigerator cartons.

No luck?

Imagine that... I can. In the Go-Giver, the first law is simply, “The Law of Value.” This law talks of how your worth is a measurement of much you give in value above that which you are paid. If you put no wood in the fireplace, why would you expect heat? Commandments are great when there are sufficient resources to effect the change, otherwise, not so much.

On Friday, we submitted an application for the COSE Business Pitch Competition. In my video I mentioned that we expected maybe three or four submissions from organizations associated [in one fashion or another] with Main Street Startups [MSS]. Guess what? Including the one for MSS, there were five! That we know of... take that Northeast Ohio.

Up on Main Street, we are focused on wealth creation, which remains the shortest path to job creation in America. Any one of these five ventures could create significant wealth and therefore, jobs. Even the nonprofit in the mix. Yes, our for profit incubator [unabashedly profit driven™] could create wealth as measured in the ability to provide services to Northeast Ohio. As an aside, if nonprofit business incubators believe they can launch for profits, then the inverse should be true, right? Actually, it is our focus on good olde fashion Marketing that makes it possible. See Geoffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm." But I digress...

Bottom line: want heat [traction, cashflow, profit, etc.]? Give more than you expect. Yet one more mantra alive and well at Main Street Startups.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

What is so special about this material? I knew the material inside out, before I ever opened the book. But I did very little [so to speak] with the material. FYI: To my knowledge, it is my first favorite for which I only own he Kindle version. But I digress...

Well, long story short: the book has become an event...

Greg Loo a colleague and fellow Toastmaster will present the core concepts this Friday at high noon in Canton, Ohio:

Monday, September 05, 2011

One year ago today, I conceived what has become Main Street Startups, a business incubator and accelerator for US Citizens. Yes, in fact, the idea started as Main Street Canton. Then within a few weeks, I determined that was too narrow, and renamed it Main Street Stark.

At SXSW in March of this year, with the help of Mike Muhney [founder of VIPorbit and co-inventor of ACT!], one more scope change was in order: to every street [Main or otherwise] in the USA:

Main Street Startups

How will this next year play out? Stay tuned... better yet: jump in and give us a hand.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

On several occasions I have read passages of Guy Kawasaki's book, Rules for Revolutionaries, but just today completed a thorough re-read of the book. It is even better than I remembered! Of course it was a birthday present to myself... twelve years ago!

If you haven't read it, you should. If you have, you might want to consider re-reading it.

Then maybe we have something in common to talk about. {grin}

--

Rules for Revolutionaries

This
book explains how to create products and services and introduce them to
the marketplace. The intended reader is anyone who wants to catalyze
innovation and change. Many large companies have used the book to
re-energize their product development and research functions. GIST:
provides a rigorous manifesto for innovation.